Infinite
by M1ssUnd3rst4nd1ng
Summary: A character study of the original six Avengers through the prism of the six Infinity Stones. Drabble-ish.
1. Main Work

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or any characters, settings, objects or events associated with it; all rights belong to their respective creators and owners.**

**Drabble-ish. That is, a drabble of exactly a hundred words, followed by an additional tagline (in parentheses). Characterizations are based off the MCU rather than the comics.**

**Cover by the infinitely, marvelously talented Phoebe594, used with permission and many thanks!**

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**Infinite**

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**Thor - Power**

Thor, Asgardian king, warrior, god of myth—raw lightning crackling through his veins, thunder in his voice, as indestructible and immovable as the hammer he wielded, heavy with judgment and defying the bonds of gravity—has known every form of power. There is power at his fingertips, in his title and birthright, in the breadth of bone and sinew and the length of his experience with war; he has long known the power of rage and force, has seen the power of ice and manipulation, and learned in time that the powers of love and kindness and justice are greater.

(Purple suits the king he has become.)

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**Natasha – Reality**

Natasha is a consummate spy, a chameleon, shaping herself to fit into the reality around her as smoothly as possible or shaping herself to the fantasies and fears of a particular person (even herself). It's survival instinct, it's technically manipulation, but it's who she _is_, the one thing she knows in her bones and cannot—_will not_—change. On the outside, she can be hard or soft, warm or cold, weapon or woman, ghost or performer, nightmare or daydream, as she needs to be for the situation at hand. She is the survivor inside the shells of a thousand women.

(Red is her signature, her claim to herself, but it drips from her fingertips, too.)

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**Clint – Space**

Clint has learned the hard way that distance is better, that the various parts of his life are better protected separated, compartmentalized. Because even people you _like_, _trust_ can turn around and destroy you; the more of you they have access to, the more they can destroy. So he keeps miles and lies and secrets between everyone and his family, keeps hundreds of yards and the weight of a bow between him and his targets, keeps _himself_ behind carefully constructed walls.

Mostly.

Because he's also far too stubborn to actually learn his lesson, cares too much for his own good.

(Blue is the color of the sky, is freedom and space, is escape.)

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**Tony – Mind**

Tony is, in many respects, his mind. His genius overrides things like common courtesy and the need to eat or sleep, it is his one defense and his constant companion, his only connection to his dad other than the thin thread of a shared name, his amusement, his livelihood, his escape. It had shaped his life in a million different ways before it ever saved it, and it has endangered it, too. Sometimes, it is so overwhelming, it feels like nothing else exists except the trilling of data processing at light speeds through his brain. But it is just his.

(Gold, just like the gold-titanium alloy in his _other_ armor.)

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**Steve – Soul**

Steve has gone through a lot of changes—in body, in how people view him, in time, in relationship with the government, in relationship with Bucky (somehow still _here_, if not the same)—but he's tried to keep _who he is_ the same. To stay Sarah Rogers's son, just a punk from Brooklyn too stubborn to run from a necessary fight and trying to make the people who'd sacrificed and cared for him proud; not a perfect soldier, not a dancing monkey, but a good man. Same soul, just in a different body and different circumstance. It's his one constant.

(Orange is the color of the fire that's always burned in him.)

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**Bruce – Time**

Bruce has one enemy worse than the government and General Ross, one desire more tantalizing than anything else, one wish, one dream, one despair: time. Time, that had corrupted the data on Project Rebirth enough for _this_, that was slipping through his grasp as he searched for a cure, that only moved in one direction (and not the one he so desperately wanted) and too fast, far too fast. Time, that he had discovered, with a gun, was so endlessly his prison. Time, that is easing his resistance, blurring the lines between him and the other guy. Time. Change. Inevitability.

(Green is his destiny, isn't it?)

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**So there you have it. As usual, all comments, critiques, and constructive criticisms are welcome as I am always looking to improve!**

**Have a marvelous day!**

**M1ssUnd3rst4nd1ng**


	2. Steve and Bruce Outtakes

**A quadruple-drabble (? quad-drabble? unnamed 400 word thing?) that came from trying to figure out, between Steve and Bruce, which was Soul and which was Time. Couldn't stop thinking about it, so I thought I'd share.**

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**Steve and Bruce – Time and Soul**

The Captain and the Doctor, both faced daily, constantly, with the burdens of alter-egos given them by experimentation with the super-soldier serum and the machinations of the US government. Both knocked outside of time in a way, separated from their own lives by those alter-egos, by their need to protect others. Both lost within those alter-egos and struggling for people to see _them_ instead.

These two good souls, at war with themselves, with the two halves of their identities, were bound together through time, long before they ever met, when one was thought dead and the other looked to follow in his footsteps. And these two quiet souls—who wanted peace and freedom and got war and cages instead, gilded or green or otherwise—would go back and do things differently if they could. Because together they bear the weight of responsibility for the serum—they understand the horror of _when it goes wrong_, the horror of the pursuit to get it right—and Steve would go back and stop anyone else from following in his footsteps, and Bruce—Bruce would stop himself from following in Steve's footsteps.

(Sometimes, Bruce can't help resenting that it went so _right_ for Steve.)

(Bruce knows that arguments could be made for both him and Steve for both _Soul_ and _Time_: Steve is a pure soul, all heart; Bruce is literally a soul torn in two, or two souls inhabiting more or less the same body, or a spiritual crisis of epic proportions, or who even knows anymore (a damned soul, for sure, his conscience whispers)—Time? Bruce is constantly fighting against time, trying to fix his mistakes before it costs more people their lives, wishing he could just die and cursing the mistake that ensured that wouldn't happen, wishing every day that he could go back in time and undo it; Steve is "the man out of time," and so heavily tied to history. But for all that his brain argues the finer details, the fact is this: the soul stone is a warm radiant gold and the time stone is deep green and when it comes to America's golden boy (that earnest heart of gold, that sunshine smile) versus the green monster that lurks in the back of his mind (and not just the jealousy he feels toward a man who literally lost everything and everyone), he knows which one he is.)


End file.
